The Mysterious Phone of Mystery

You know that shiver I talked about?  I think I may have linked it to something more solid and probable, using my super-detective skills and sharp thinking.  See, later that night when I was sleeping I woke up with more shivers that I knew what to do with, along with a good headache and a dizzy mind.

Ahh, yes.  A fever.  Of course!  I thought.

Long story short, I have contracted some sort of flu from any one of the numerous sources on this island, the most likely being a student.  My good mother had made sure that I packed lots of Ibuprofen and Nyquil, so this is why I still am probably alive and haven't surrendered my body to the combined heat of the equatorial humidity and the fever.  That early morning, I shuffled over to the pastor's house to tell him of my situation.
"Come in! Come in! Tuwoh (Good morning)!" He greeted.
"Tuwoh!  Pastor, I don't think I can teach today.  I woke up with a fever last night," I explained.
He all of a sudden looked very worried.  "Do we need to take you to the hospital?"
All I could think of when I pictured going to the Kosrae hospital was the HAI's (Hospital Acquired Infections) that I learned about in my nursing classes at WWU.
"No, no, I just need to rest.  Do you think we can find a substitute?"
He ended up teaching for me.  I gave him my lesson plan for the day and went back to sleep.  Around noon, I dazedly got up to make some noodles for lunch, and the Pastor came up and walked in to the apartment while his class ate their lunch.  I could tell by the look on his face that he was glad he was not a teacher.
"They are a handful, aren't they?" I said with a smile.
He replied, "Yes, they are a handful.  I had to send one to weed the flowers during reading as a punishment.  I also sent two kids home.  Some of them don't want to listen at all!"

Sounds about right.

Last night after my ibuprofen finally kicked in, I felt good enough to go get some fresh air.  I walked down to the ocean, past all the cooking fires and stray cats and frogs.  It felt good to breath in salt air coming in from the northwestern trade winds.  Ben's house right beside me was dark, but all of a sudden I heard a tiny "mew!".  We have been looking for a kitten as a pet for a while now, but no one likes cats here and they don't even want to touch them, so it is very hard.  But I could make out a small kitten shape among the rocks in the darkness, right close to Ben's back door.  Someone stirred in the house.  "Akaywoh!" I said, which means "good evening".  Ben peeked out his back door.

The Island Games

"Is this your kitten?  I have been looking for one."
"Hey man!  No.  If you can can catch it, you can have it," he laughed.
Ben went to get his flashlight, and we spent the next 30 minutes trying to catch the darting kitten.  It would go under the seawall rocks and pop out 10 feet away.  I felt like I was in a chase scene in one of those old slapstick comedies from the 1920's.  After lots of running and sneaking and a few standoffs with crabs, we gave up.  "Bring Larry and William and Kiyus tomorrow, they will help you."
No kitten yet, but I will keep you posted.  The hunt will continue.

walking to the game

We were woken up by a jubilant "good morning" given by Uncle Larry outside of our apartment today.    It is Liberation Day for Kosrae, and Larry came to take us to the baseball championship games.  "Come, get ready!  The games started at 9:00.  I will play soon, you can watch."  I downed some medicine, ate a tangerine and a banana, and grabbed my Nalgene as Larry led the way for Ryan and I.  We dove off into some trail in the jungle and magically appeared at the elementary school, where a bunch of locals were milling about, chewing and drinking coffee and practicing pitches.  We watched our sector win, and came back to the apartment to eat cup-o-noodles and bananas and peanut butter.  My fever decided to try and return through the medicine, so I ended up in my hammock to rest for a good while, only interrupted by occasional random church bells and the unexplainable ringing of the "Mysterious Phone of Mystery".

Actually, let me expound real quick on that.

This phone sits in the corner of our room, and it is supposedly linked up to the office phone (we later found out).  But it rings at random times, and every time we try to answer it a mysterious, inaudible voice mumbles on the other end for a few seconds, then hangs up.  Despite the eternal ear-shattering ring, we have decided to avoid answering it to evade further mystery and confusion.  We have yet to figure out who is trying to reach us and what they want from us, so therefore we have dubbed it "The Mysterious Phone of Mystery".

Uncle Larry

Kosrae is beginning to grow on me, although maybe slowly.  I turned on my bedside light for a total of  27 seconds and instantly I was being bombarded by little flying bugs, obviously craving my light.  Everything seems to be dimmed by sickness right now, but soon I should be back teaching my little chubs in no time.  Ryan and I discovered that we can buy a 1.5 gallon tub of ice cream for only kind've an unreasonable price, so spirits are still pretty high.  Also, our third man Tyler Hissong should be arriving around 3:00 pm on Monday next week, so we are pretty excited!

Peace from the tropics, and send us hand towels and chocolate if you so desire.

-River